The Art of Eating Right

The effect of food on the body is comprehensive. Be it physical health or mental well-being, both are intrinsically linked with food and keeps taking up and down swings depending on changes in it. It is a matter of everyday experience. Bad and irregular dietary habits make the body sick and the mind restless.

If we were to enumerate the illeffects of rich, pungent, spicy, and fried food, we would have to list practically all the diseases, because all of them have a direct or indirect connection with food. The fashionable fast foods, packed food, or junk food of today also fall in the same category. This new style of eating, widely prevalent these days, has given many a body-blow to the quality of human life.

Food is a basic necessity of life. Everybody knows this, but very few know the art of eating right, that is, have an idea of what to eat, when to eat, and how to eat. Let’s first take the “what to eat?” aspect. The only proper and right answer to this question is that we should eat only what provides nourishment to the

body. It is important to remember that we eat to live and do not live to eat. So, if the right kind of food is to be selected out of a long list of eatables, we will have to give preference to only those items that have nutritional value and are beneficial for health. Such articles can very easily be identified. Everybody is aware, for example, of the importance of fresh fruits, vegetables, pulses, cereals, etc.

Many cooking ingredients like pungent spices, appetizers, pickles, etc. lack any nutritive value and are manifestly harmful to health, and so are the processes of frying, stewing, etc. These render even healthy food useless and unhealthy. Materials inimical to health are found not only in the kitchen but also outside; e. g. liquor and intoxicants of various kinds, betel, tobacco, zarda, gutka, and so many other such things have acquired the status of food supplements and are used routinely. The situation has become so alarming that even the food habits of the elites make one wonder why these educated and well-informed persons have lost their sense of wise discrimination. There are some exceptions, of course, in this class, but their number is negligible.

“When to eat”? Again, the answer is only one, viz. twice a day at the most, and that too, when the appetite has built up sufficiently. Eating randomly, or taking frequent snacks and breakfast, in addition to regular meals, is going to do no good. Dietary habits, these days, have so much deteriorated that biologists and psychologists have made this matter a subject of their research. They classify hunger in different types, for

example, )i( intense craving to eat at the sight of others’ eating )ii( frequent urge to snack during moments of tension )iii( fixed-time-appetite following the biological clock, etc. The experts consider the former two types wrong and only the third type right.

Now having known that one should eat only when there is a real appetite for it, there follows the next question “how to eat”? The answer is that food should be taken in a quiet and restful manner, with humble remembrance of God as His Prasada )grace(. If food is seen as God’s Prasada, even the simple ‘chapati’ )unleavened bread( proves nourishing. On the contrary, sweetmeats, multicourse dishes, and dry fruits, if taken hurriedly and in fretful mood, impair health and produce ailments. The right food appropriately taken is the key to sound health. The Ayurveda )ancient healing therapy( has an exciting and instructive story. Once it occurred to Maharishi Charaka, the great pioneer of Ayurveda that he should test whether his pupils understood his teachings correctly. He metamorphosed into a pigeon and sat on a tree, under which many vaidyas )healers( were passing by. The pigeon called out: “Ko ruk, ko ruk, ko ruk”? )Who is healthy, who is healthy, who is healthy?(. The vaidyas paid no heed to pigeon’s words. The Maharishi thought that either they did not comprehend what the tiny bird was saying, or they were ignoring him. He flew from there and chose another tree. Incidentally, the great scholar Vagabhatta was passing that way. He heard the query of Maharishi and repeatedly replied thrice: “Hitbhuk, hitbhuk, hitbhuk,” i.e., healthy is one who eats the right type of food. Charaka-turned-pigeon asked again, “Ko ruk, Ko ruk, Ko ruk”? Vagadatta answered: “Mitbhuk, mitbhuk, mitbhuk,” i.e., the one who eats in moderation. The ‘bird’ repeated the question a third time. Vagabhatta’s response this time was: “Ritbhuk, ritbhuk, ritbhuk,” i.e., one who eats according to season; and what he has earned through fair means. The bird flew away satisfied, as his questions had been answered correctly.

Three words or stipulations may be laid down about diet - hit, mit, and rit. Hitbhoji is one who consumes only those materials that are useful and beneficial for health. Such a person eats for fitness, not taste. Mitbhoji is one who eats in moderation. Gluttons cannot do any sadhana. They remain preoccupied with finding digestive powders and tablets after meals. The word rit here means the inner attitude with which the food is prepared and taken. What are the feelings of the person cooking the food? Rit food can be made only by one who is full of lovingkindness, who is suffused with motherly affection. And then the way of earning our livelihood must also be righteous and honest. The nature of our consciousness is refined or perverted depending upon the quality of the food we consume. This very refinement or perversion is reflected in our style of living too.